The Research and Faculty Development Core centers around strong hypothesis-driven research that addresses significant minority health issues. Each project provides an unprecedented opportunity for junior faculty at Dillard to become competitive basic or clinical researchers. Furthermore, these projects provide a clinical research setting in which to train undergraduate students and minority nurses to become clinical research associates (CRAs), who in turn, will play a key role in promoting minority participation in clinical research and clinical trials. Each project pairs an established investigator with a junior faculty member at Dillard in a model that promotes faculty development. In addition, the biostatistics group will provide mentoring for a biostatistician at Dillard, bringing to four the initial number of Dillard faculty to be mentored. The faculty development program is based on a development curriculum for junior faculty and has a strong evaluation component based on achieving independent research funding at Dillard.